By the way, if you're wondering, 'GH's' 12,000 episodes equates to nearly 47 years of continuing daytime drama. The show began on April 1, 1963, and it was not an April's Fool joke. It was something different at the time, because most of the soaps were New York based.

In fact, on the same day 'GH' launched, NBC premiered a new medical soap, too, out of New York. It was called 'The Doctors,' and for the first decade or so 'GH' and 'The Doctors' were on TV, the NBC show was a better soap. However, all that changed in 1978 when Gloria Monty became executive director... which led to the Luke and Laura sensation.

(S04E12) Facing the Lions, Coach Taylor said the word of the week was focus. He was wrong. The word of the week was choice. Everybody seemed to be facing impossible choices.

Bigger than right or wrong, yes or no, play or don't play. In this penultimate episode of 'Friday Night Lights,' the problems were everywhere, but solutions -- unfortunately -- were hard to come by. More on the big game, toothpicks, apologies and Habitat for Humanities after the jump.

(S04E10) There were some major developments in this episode of Friday Night Lights, especially among the younger set. And if you think life is just peachy keen for kids in high school, they aren't the ones attending East Dillon High. If you prefer the lighter, sweeter side of Friday Night Lights, this wasn't your night. Sadness was at every turn, none moreso that Becky and Vince and their very tough decisions.

(S04E09) This is a really interesting time in television because there are not one or two or three excellent dramatic TV shows, there are a dozen I could name off the top of my head. Somewhat overlooked -- thanks to NBC -- is Friday Night Lights.

Amid Lost, 24, House, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Dexter, Big Love, Damages, Sons of Anarchy, NCIS and others, the drama which some incorrectly think is just about Texas football, doesn't get its just desserts.

This was a typical episode of Friday Night Lights, layered with character development and conflicts, emotions out of whack, and problems that seem to crop up out of nowhere. It's a lot like life. For more on the show and what Tami and Eric were talking about in bed, follow me after the jump.

(S04E07)Friday Night Lights is a show that's as much about subtle touches as it is about bone-crunching hits on the football field. This episode was all about pain, but not just the kind that requires a doctor's touch. Julie felt it, as did Landry, Becky, Vince and Tim in their own ways.

For a change of pace, Tami wasn't getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop, and for Coach Taylor, things were looking up even though the sheriff was snooping around the locker of one of his players. And if you're wondering what happened after Matt left Dillon last week, read on.

Tuesday was Jonathan Jackson's first day back on General Hospital in the role of Lucky Spencer. It's a role he originated (as a youngster), coming onto the show in 1993 when Luke and Laura -- Anthony Geary and Genie Francis -- made their much-heralded return. Jonathan stayed on General Hospital till 1999, winning three Daytime Emmys in his tenure, and basically stamped the character as his own. That's why when he decided to return now, it's been a big deal.

Both these returns are exciting... and fraught with drama. While Jonathan is a three-time Emmy-winner and a superb Lucky -- he originated the role -- his choosing to resume the part means that Greg Vaughan has been dumped.

To be really, really honest, Greg was a great looking Lucky, but he never had a good grasp on the character of Lucky.

There are many things the soaps do well. You know, things like lavish weddings, fancy dress balls, murder trials, even corporate boardroom shenanigans. On the other hand, there are more action-oriented story lines that just bring out the worst in soaps.

In the last few weeks, for instance,All My Childrenstaged the worst looking motorcycle/car crash I've ever seen on TV. It was riotously funny, and that was not the desired effect. When a wedding gown-wearing Greenlee (sans helmet) careened off the road into a frozen river, the sight of her veil flying in the wind as the tires screeched, with the headlights blinking and the actors pretending to be tossed around, was a hoot. All I was thinking while watching the accident was: "Could this be executed any worse?" (Also, what a waste of Rebecca Budig's return.)

One of the biggest stars of daytime is coming back to the tube. Genie Francis, the Emmy-award winning actress who created the role of Laura -- as in Luke and Laura -- will return to General Hospital on August 26 for a brief guest stint. This will be a very interesting return, too, because her last tenure on the show in 2007 was not only award-worthy, it also ended with her character resuming the catatonia in which she's been trapped for the past few years.

So how can she return to General Hospital? There's a hint in Genie's quotes to the Associated Press. "This is a short visit. It's a mother-daughter story. Years ago when I started playing the character as a 14-year-old girl, it was a mother-daughter story, only I was the daughter. So it's kinda cool this is full circle."

The waiting goes on. Kind of like that spinning planet that symbolizes As the World Turns. TV Squad reported recently that many fans of the soap are anxious to see the two gay lovers, Noah (Jake Silbermann) and Luke (Van Hansis), smooch on screen. There are web sites with a clock ticking, waiting for the next on screen kiss from the fellas. Now comes news that TV Guide's Michael Logan questioned Barbara Bloom, head of CBS Daytime, to find out if the show, the sponsor or the network is afraid to depict a homosexual teen love story in the same way they do a heterosexual one?

It was big news when As the World Turns, CBS and Procter & Gamble's 52-year-old daytime drama, presented a gay love story between two men. When Luke Snyder (Van Hansis) admitted to Noah Mayer (Jake Silbermann) that he loved him, it was a major step forward for the soap opera genre. However, fans of the show are upset. No, they're okay with them being gay. They just want them to be more affectionate. They're protesting!

In an AP story about the As the World Turns protest, Roger Newcomb, a die-hard fan, said, "We totally support this show and applaud the show for doing this story line. We just don't understand why they [Luke and Noah] have to be censored or treated differently."